


The Time of My Life

by notbloodylikely



Category: British Royal Family, British Royalty RPF, The Crown (TV)
Genre: Corny movies, F/M, I continue to torture myself with this ship, One nervous boi, Romance, princess in disguise, secret dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25211062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notbloodylikely/pseuds/notbloodylikely
Summary: Anne and Tim sneak out for a secret date at the cinema. Just an idea I’ve had for a while that came to fruition after watching the movie again and cramming it into a fic. No reason whatsoever apart from I wanted to.
Relationships: Anne | Princess Royal (1950 - Present)/Timothy Laurence (1955 - Present)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13





	The Time of My Life

“This is mad.”

“It’ll be fun.”

“What if someone recognises you?”

“They won’t.”

“Your protection officers are going to kill me-”

“They’ll never know!”

Tim Laurence was regretting his decision. The previous evening, during one of his and Princess Anne’s lengthy conversations, when both had finished working for the day and neither wanted to go back to an empty house, they had wound up talking about the cinema.

As President of BAFTA, she had been slowly making her way through the contenders for Best Film whenever she had time, but still had a few to go. Since they had never had a proper date, Tim had joked that they ought to go to the cinema and see one of the films together. It would be dark after all, and nobody would recognise her. At least, he had meant it as a joke. He hadn’t realised at the time how much she’d liked the idea.

24 hours later and here he was, driving around on a cold, rainy London evening with Princess Anne sat beside him wearing a trench coat, dark sunglasses and a blonde wig she’d owned since she was a teenager. While he was extremely nervous, she was perfectly calm, almost excited, bopping to the radio practically oblivious to his concerns.

“Have you done this before?” He asked.

“No. Well, not to go to the cinema, but I always go shopping on my own without my protection officers in Gloucestershire, and 9 times out of 10, nobody notices me. And I’m not just saying that to try and put you at ease,” she smiled. Even if she was, it wouldn’t have worked. 

“You do realise what could happen? It only takes one picture, and you’ll have every tabloid in Fleet Street questioning why you’re going to the cinema with a man who’s not your husb-“

“There’s a space!” She pointed to an empty parking space across the road from the Curzon West End. Having driven past several cinemas across the city that already had long queues outside for a Thursday night, she’d deemed this one suitably quiet. After parking the car, Tim let out a deep sigh.

“This is a bad idea.”

“I would say it’s one of the best you’ve ever had.” Before he could respond, she put her hand on his thigh and leaned in.

“Nobody is going to recognise me. It’s already dark out here, it will be even darker in there, and when the film is over, we’ll make a run for it and get out first before the lights come on!”

Listening to her daring escape plan, Tim couldn’t help but smile. She really did seem excited, and he realised why: she never got to do this. A spontaneous night out to the cinema, without schedules and formalities, without handshaking and speech-making, but just because she wanted to. This, combined with the fact that nobody could know she was there, and especially not that she was there with the man she’d been secretly seeing for the last few months, seemed only to add to her excitement. He took her hand in his.

“Sounds like a plan. You’d better take off that wig though.” She frowned.

“Why? Too obvious?”

“No, because it gets rather hot sitting in the cinema for a couple of hours, and your head will be on fire by the time the film ends.” The wig was swapped for her headscarf.

Arm-in-arm underneath an umbrella, they crossed the road and joined the short queue for tickets. Peeping over her sunglasses at the posters of the films that were being shown, Anne giggled.

“What?”

“None of these are up for the Best Film BAFTA.” She giggled even more at the look on his face. “It doesn’t matter! I’ll enjoy it even more now, it has nothing to do with work.”

“Well in that case, you can pick the film.”

“I don’t know what any of them are about..” She looked at the posters again. “ _Fatal Attraction_ , what’s that?”

“It’s a thriller about a married man that has an affair with a colleague, and when he tries to end it, she starts to stalk him and-“

“No, thank you.” Given whatever Mark, who was away in Australia again, was getting up to, it risked getting a bit too close to home.

“What about _The Living Daylights,_ the new Bond film? You like a bit of Bond, don’t you?”

She crinkled her nose. “Yes, but Timothy Dalton just isn’t Sean Connery I’m afraid.”

“Well you’d better pick something, we’re nearly at the top of the queue.” She had another look before her eyes lit up and she snorted, nodding at it.

“That one.” Tim’s eyes fell on the poster in question.

“ _Dirty Dancing_?” Just hearing him say it made her giggle.

“Mhmmm.”

“Do you know what it’s about?”

“Well I would think that’s pretty obvious, darling.”

“You do know it’s one of those cheesy, chick-flick, rom-com films?”

“Yes, I gathered that. You did say I could pick!”

“No, I know, I don’t mind what we see. I’m just letting you know that you’re going to absolutely hate it.”

“We’ll see. You never know, _you_ might love it!”

After Tim bought the tickets, they slipped into the cinema unnoticed. He felt Anne’s grip tighten on his arm at the sight of the other people there, but despite his previous reservations, no one seemed the least bit interested in them, and Tim felt that he could finally relax for the rest of the evening. Or at least until the film ended.

“Shall I get popcorn?” He asked.

“Of course! But only one, we can share.”

Anne lead him right to the back of their auditorium and into a corner. Given the film had been out for over a month, there weren’t many others there. Both content now that they were perfectly safe from recognition, Anne took off her headscarf and glasses and was already snuggling into his shoulder and stealing some popcorn.

“I hope it’s good.”

“I have a terrible feeling you’re going to be disappointed.” Both of them snorted with laughter, and were promptly shushed by an old lady who was sitting near the front of the auditorium, which only made them giggle like naughty teenagers. 

“Do you regret letting me pick now?” Anne whispered.

“I told you, I don’t care what we watch. The fact that I’m here with you is enough.” He slid his arm around her shoulder and they kissed as the ads began to play.

Tim’s prediction hadn’t exactly been correct. While the cheesy romance movie wasn’t exactly to either of their tastes, both of them took great enjoyment in mocking it. They kept a running commentary going throughout, inserting their own lines to see who’s was sillier and making faces at each other when something particularly corny happened. His heart swelled watching her cringe in her seat and bury her face in his shoulder, or miming the lyrics to _Hungry Eyes_ in the most exaggerated way she could. 

Neither could remember the last time they’d laughed so much, or felt so carefree. It was as though the ever-looming danger of being found out didn’t exist, and they were there like any other couple enjoying a date. The film didn’t matter: being there together was enough.

Both of them applauded when the credits finally began to roll after the typically happy ending. Standing up to stretch their stiff limbs, they were caught off-guard when the lights suddenly flashed on, illuminating the auditorium in seconds. Without thinking, they grabbed their belongings and rushed down the stairs and out the doors. Pulling their coats and sunglasses on, they took each other’s hand and broke into a run, clearing through the lobby that was quickly filling with people spilling out from the other auditoriums.

Their unashamed giddy joy only increased when they burst through the main doors of the cinema and found no cameras, journalists or angry protection officers waiting for them: they had gotten away with it. Instinctively they embraced, as if to celebrate a victory. But they soon realised they were getting absolutely soaking wet in the rain, which had only gotten heavier since they arrived, and unwilling to be the encore for the rest of the cinema goers leaving the building, they sprinted across the busy road and jumped into the car, slamming the doors shut and zooming off down the road.

A surge of adrenaline having rendered them half speechless, the first thing they did was to laugh when they looked at each other. Anne was wringing her wet hair as Tim steered back towards the Palace. 

“Well,” he said eventually, “what did you think of Dirty Dancing?”

“I think I can safely say, it was one of the worst films I’ve ever seen in my life.” Anne replied, before both of them broke into laughter again.

“You mean you didn’t enjoy it? I’m stunned,” he joked. “What was your least favourite thing about it?”

“All of it. No, the acting. And the dialogue. And the idea that Patrick Swayze was supposed to be what, 21?” Tim narrowed his eyes at her playfully and shook his head.

“No, I don’t buy that. I think you loved it.”

“I did not!”

“You did, you were even singing along! Not to mention you were drooling at Patrick Swayze.”

“Hard not to,” she shrugged, a wry smile gracing her lips. “Did you like it?”

“Oh, I didnt want it to end. I’m so happy you chose _that_ film for our first proper date.”

“Well you’ll never forget it,” she giggled. “If at any time you have a sudden urge to watch it again in the future, it will always remind you of me.”

The idea of that made him smile, mirroring hers. But as they passed the Mall and the silhouette of Buckingham Palace came into view, reality seemed to dawn on them both. They had to go back now, and the following day, she would go back to being the Princess Royal, and him equerry to the Queen. It would be as if this night had never happened.

Parking far enough from the entrance to St. James’s Palace so nobody could see, they sat in silence for a moment. As though reading his thoughts, Anne took his hand in hers and caressed it with her thumb, prompting him to meet her gaze again.

“It‘ll be our secret. No one else will ever know about it apart from us, and that makes it all the more special to me.” His hand rose, to catch her chin and lift her face to his, and with that inherent gentleness that he possessed, he pulled her into a soft, tender kiss.

Within seconds, they were wrapped in each other’s arms, neither wanting to let go. Soft moans and breathy sighs drowned out by the pouring rain beating down on the car was the only sound to be heard as their kisses grew more passionate.

When they finally broke apart, he buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled her scent, his hands running down her back to explore, familiarising himself with every part that he could, his fear that it might be the last time creeping in. The thought of never being able to hold her in his arms again only made him tighten his grip. 

“Don’t let go,” she purred, echoing his thoughts once again. But he knew he had to. Pressing a kiss to her neck, he leaned back to look at her. 

”Go on, don’t torture me. They might already be looking for you. They could have a search party out for all we know.” 

They shared one last, longing kiss before forcing themselves to separate. 

”Thank you for tonight. I had a lovely time. The Time Of My Life, actually, and I owe it all to you,” she teased making both of them chuckle. 

”Oh, my pleasure.. I don’t suppose you’d like to invite me up for a nightcap?” 

”On the first date? I’m not that kind of girl Commander,” she put on her headscarf again before getting out into the dimly lit street, “but we’ll wait and see how the second date goes, and perhaps then I’ll consider it.” 

“Second date? As long as it’s not somewhere with quite the same risk of getting caught, I’d love to. When?” 

“I’ll have to check my diary,” she winked. “Goodnight.” And with one last look, she slipped her sunglasses on and crossed the road, the rain falling impossibly harder than before.

Tim watched her get to the main entrance of St. James’s in the wing mirror as he drove back down the road and headed to his own dwelling in Kensington Palace.

Sitting at a red light, he began to reflect on their evening together before turning on the radio. To his amusement, Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes were belting out the chorus of ‘The Time of My Life‘ through the speakers.

Before going to sleep that night, Tim promised himself that before Anne went home to Gatcombe for the weekend, she would find an LP of the _Dirty Dancing_ soundtrack on her desk, a little memento of their first secret date. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be their last.


End file.
